Tokyo -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has waded deep into the effort to deal with the aftermath of the world 's worst nuclear accident in a quarter century .

His government said Tuesday it would spend the equivalent of $ 470 million to try to tackle the alarming toxic water crisis at the country 's tsunami-crippled nuclear power plant .

National authorities are stepping in as Tokyo Electric Power Company struggles to cope with an array of daunting problems at its stricken Fukushima Daiichi plant .

The move is a gamble for Abe , who comfortably won elections last year and has so far remained popular .

Why Fukushima is worse than you think

`` Today , instead of the previous stopgap countermeasures , we have put together a basic policy for countering the contaminated water issue , '' Abe said after a ministerial meeting Tuesday .

TEPCO has accumulated a huge volume of tainted water at the site since a massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011 set off meltdowns at three of the plant 's reactors .

A litany of leaks

Last month , it said one of roughly 1,000 huge storage tanks at the site had leaked 300 tons of toxic water , prompting Japan 's nuclear regulator to declare the situation a Level 3 serious incident , its gravest assessment since the meltdowns at the plant in 2011 .

TEPCO looks for outside help to stabilize Fukushima

Now , the regulator says it suspects more leaks from other containers after the company detected high radiation levels in some parts of the water storage system over the weekend .

TEPCO is also having difficulty managing the large quantities of groundwater that flow into and out of the area around the plant each day . In July , it admitted that radioactive groundwater was leaking into the Pacific Ocean from the site , bypassing an underground barrier built to seal in the water .

Michael Friedlander , a former nuclear plant operator and engineer , described the groundwater problem as one of the biggest long-term issues at the plant .

`` It 's like having a leak in your basement , '' he told CNN Tuesday .

Government measures

Amid mounting concerns about the crisis and TEPCO 's ability to deal with it , Abe said last month his government would step in .

Fukishima tuna study finds miniscule health risks

In the plan outlined Tuesday , the government said it intends to spend roughly $ 320 million on a technologically challenging project to freeze the ground around the reactors to prevent groundwater from leaking into the plant and carrying radioactive particles with it as it seeps out .

Japan ponders freezing ground

The plan to freeze the ground had already been proposed by TEPCO , but the government says it is trying to speed up measures to get a grip on the water crisis .

It earmarked a further $ 150 million for a new , more effective processing system for the tainted water at the plant .

Authorities will also replace water storage tanks that are held together by bolts with welded tanks , which have a lower risk of leaking .

The three main elements of the government 's plan are to decrease the amount of contaminated water in and underneath the reactor buildings and surrounding trenches , keep groundwater away from already toxic water and prevent tainted water from seeping into the ocean .

Frozen ground

The plan to freeze the ground around the reactors is particularly ambitious . The Japanese government has previously described the task as `` unprecedented . ''

The technology has been used before in the construction of tunnels , but never on the massive scale that the Fukushima plant would require . It also has never been used for the years or decades that experts think will be needed at the plant .

It is likely to involve plunging tubes carrying a powerful coolant liquid deep into the ground . The liquid would freeze the ground solid so that no groundwater could pass through it .

Friedlander said that the ground freezing is `` a good solution as an interim fix '' until the leaks underneath the reactors are permanently sealed .

TEPCO has been grappling with water issues ever since the plant was hit by the natural disasters in 2011 . The resulting meltdowns constituted the second-worst nuclear accident in history , trailing only the 1986 disaster at Chernobyl , in the former Soviet Union .

CNN 's Yoko Wakatsuki reported from Tokyo and Jethro Mullen wrote from Hong Kong . CNN 's Junko Ogura contributed to this report .

@highlight

The prime minister vows to move on from TEPCO 's `` stopgap countermeasures ''

@highlight

The government says it will spend about $ 320 million on a plan to freeze the ground

@highlight

An expert describes that measure as a good `` interim fix ''

@highlight

It is intended to stop groundwater from entering the site and mixing with toxic water